


Impossible Captain

by Haely_Potter



Series: Bending the Universe [22]
Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Episode AU: s06e01 The Impossible Astronaut, Gen, Mentions of various other characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 07:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2142297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haely_Potter/pseuds/Haely_Potter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a small diner in the middle-of-nowhere America sits Captain Jack Harkness, a blue envelope securely in his pocket, knowing exactly what day it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Impossible Captain

Jack watched the group come in, handling their own invites. His was safely tucked in his pocket, the silver 1.5 standing there proudly. He sat in the booth second closest to the door so he heard all the trio said easily.

"You got three, I was two, Mister Delaware was four," said the older woman with the curly hair and a gun on her hip.

"So?" asked the only man in the group. He seemed harmless, but his eyes were older than his body, much like the Doctor and Jack himself. That meant he had to have learned to survive, and without the Doctor's massive intellect, it would have meant learning to fight.

"So where's one?" asked the curly one.

Jack held in a snort. One? That was probably the Doctor himself.

"What, you think he invited someone else?"

The red head had obviously seen something that had shaken her world and had trouble processing it, and when she stopped by his booth, Jack couldn't help himself.

"Are you alright, miss?" he asked, his accent not sounding out of place in the rural America. Her companions continued on with their conversation.

She turned to look at him, and he barely covered his flinch, recognizing the look in her eyes from the mirror from the time he'd thought Rose had died at Canary Wharf.

"No," she answered, her voice quiet and close to breaking. "My best friend just died."

"My condolences," he told her. "Want to sit down?"

Without ceremony she collapsed to the opposite side of the booth, sitting side ways on the couch, leaning her head to the back of it.

"He knew he was going to die," she said, voice shaking. "And he invited us to witness it."

Jack doubted that was it. "I don't think anyone would do that. Maybe he invited you so that he could face his death with bravery? It's what I would do, as no one wants to die alone."

She turned to look at him. "But if he knew, why would he do something like that? Why didn't he fight it?"

"Because everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies, as a friend once said," Jack told her sympathetically. "Except maybe me."

"What do you mean, except maybe you?" the red head frowned at him.

Jack shrugged. "I've probably got more experience with my own death than a Time Lord," he said, taking out the blue invite.

The curly haired woman with the gun came over. "Are you number one, then?"

"Nah, sorry sweetheart, I'm one point five," Jack waved her away before gesturing to the man who'd seen something. "But he seems to have found your number one."

The curly one hurried to where the man had gestured. She picked up the blue envelope. "The Doctor knew he was going to his death, so he sent out messages. When you know it's the end, who do you call?"

"Er," hesitated the man, "your friends. People you trust."

"People you draw strength from. Your reason for fighting," added Jack.

"Number one. Who did the Doctor trust the most?" asked the curly one, holding up the envelope.

"In this universe? Himself," answered Jack dryly. "In all of reality? Rose Tyler."

Just when he finished but before he could be questioned of Rose Tyler's identity, the back door of the diner opened and a man with a lantern jaw, tweed jacket and a bow-tie entered, chewing on a straw. This obviously was the Doctor if the others' shocked faces were anything to go by.

The red head stood up slowly, her eyes staying on the Doctor. The Doctor then pointed at the trio all in turn, Jack being mostly hidden by the red head, a wide grin on his face.

"This is cold," the curly one said, her voice shaking. "Even by your standards, this is cold."

"Or  _hello_ , as people used to say," the Doctor greeted them, oblivious to their shock.

"Doctor?" asked the red head, voice barely above a whisper.

"I just popped out to get my special straw," he said, holding up his chewed straw in explanation. "It adds more fizz."

"You're okay. How can you be okay?" the red head asked as she circulated around him slowly, to check he really was completely functional, one hand pressed on his chest, to check for a heart beat.

The Doctor frowned, looking concerned. Then he drew the red head into a hug. "Hey, of course I'm okay. I'm the King of Okay. Oh," he seemed to realize what he'd just said, "that's a rubbish title. Forget the title," he said and let her go, before leaping at the old young man, wrapping him in a hug in turn. "Rory the Roman! That's a good title. Hello Rory," he greeted loudly while the man, Rory who was apparently a Roman, patted his back awkwardly before looking helplessly at the curly one. The Doctor then released him and turned to the curly one, his greeting much more muted. "And Doctor River Song," he drawled. "Oh, you bad, bad girl. What trouble have you got for me this time?"

The curly one, a doctor in her own right, slapped him so hard his whole upper body twisted, but Jack couldn't fault the woman, he knew what day today was after all. But because of the slap, he saw Jack in his booth, eyes alight with amusement.

"Jack!" he called, the slap forgotten as he bounced over to Jack who had stood out of the booth just in time for the Doctor to hug him. "Captain Jack Harkness! Boy, am I glad to see you!"

"Doc!" Jack greeted him just as enthusiastically, swinging the slightly shorter man around. "Let me look at you!" he said when the Doctor let go, taking the alien by the shoulders. "Your hair's longer! And have you seen your jaw? Very prominent. Not quite as pretty as the last one, but more than pretty enough for me," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"You still haven't bought me that drink," the Doctor grinned smugly.

"Such hard work," Jack mock complained before the two burst into laughter, drawing the other for another hug. "But seriously Doc, how've you been?"

"Oh you know, this and that," shrugged the Doctor with a grin as they let go. "Crashed into Amelia's back yard, was late twelve years, saved a starwhale, jumped out of a cake at Rory's stag night, confronted my dark side and rebooted the Universe, but mostly I missed Rose."

Jack nodded, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I miss her too, Doc."

"And what about you, Harkness? What have you been up to?" asked the Doctor, changing the subject. "Slept your way through the Galaxy yet?"

"Oi!" protested Jack. "I actually turned to monogamy for a while, a century full of meaningful relationships. Then the one who was most likely the love of my life died in my arms because of a gas an alien released and I woke up a few hours later next to his body in the morgue. After I dealt with that alien threat, I left Earth for a while. Slept around, drank to the point of alcohol poisoning every day and generally acted like before I met you and Rosie. One of my conquests turned out to be a time agent with a working vortex manipulator, which I nicked before he woke up. Defended the Earth in twenty-eighth century for a while, made a new team, did some research on you in the 51st century, visited my parents, the usual stuff." He then looked over the Doctor's shoulder. "But you haven't introduced me to your new companions. How rude of you."

"That's me, rude and not ginger," declared the Doctor before turning around. "Ponds and Doctor Song, this is Jack Harkness, a very good friend of mine who I've known for... what... all of nine years?"

"What? It's only been nine years since we met for you?" asked Jack. "For me it's been well over four hundred years, even if you don't count the two thousand years I was buried in Cardiff. I'm older than you now, youngling."

"You were buried? As in a coffin six feet under?" the Doctor turned to look at Jack in horror. "What happened?"

"Well, my little brother, whom I'd lost when Boshane Peninsula came under attack when I was thirteen, came back to take revenge on me for leaving him behind, and with the help of my ex-partner time agent they buried me in Cardiff before there was a Cardiff to speak of. I got found by Torchwood and had them put me in cryo ice for some hundred and twenty years since there shouldn't have been two or three of me running around in the same time period. It was timed, and I was released in time to save my team from the torture my brother had designed for them. Of course, Owen and Tosh died anyway, but I still had Gewn and Ianto," Jack shrugged, his heart twinging at Ianto's name. He missed him.

"Wait, hold on," Rory the Roman interrupted the Doctor before he'd even opened his mouth. "So you were buried for two thousand years... but how are you standing here?"

"Oh," Jack blinked at them. "I'm so used to everyone already knowing, that I didn't even think... Well, Rosie had an accident with the Time Vortex and made me immortal when we were still traveling with the Doc. Of course, my being a fixed point in time made the Doc uncomfortable, so he left me on the dead satellite."

"I told you I was sorry!" protested the Doctor. "And I was regenerating and I didn't know if the Time Vortex had done anything to Rose!"

"And did it?" asked Jack gently, trying to lead the Doctor to the conclusion he'd heard from Mickey Mouse after the whole twenty-seven planets thing.

"There was slight mutating in her cells, nothing to worry about. She more human plus than anything," answered the Doctor.

"Yeah? Plus what?" Jack asked. "'Cause Mickey Mouse told me she'd been in Pete's world for ten years. I mean, ten years for her. She apparently mugged a local Time Agent for a vortex manipulator a month after Bad Wolf Bay."

Slowly the Doctor's eyes widened. "No," he denied it. "No, not possible."

"And Rosie ate impossible for breakfast with a side of Time Vortex," snorted Jack. "I've never heard of anything but a TARDIS surviving having the Time Vortex in them." He saw the growing dread in the Doctor's eyes and changed the subject. "So, I take the envelope with number one is yours then?"

The Doctor nodded, thankful of the subject change. "Yes, I was invited indeed. Same as you lot, I assume, otherwise it's a hell of a coincidence."

"River, what's going on?" asked Amy who apparently had trouble wrapping her head around the more layered and complicated time travel.

"Amy, ask him what age he is," advised River, her voice weak but demanding.

"That's a bit personal," sniffed the Doctor.

Jack snorted and slapped him on the back. "You vain git," he laughed. "You had no problem telling me and Rosie you were nine hundred. Is it just this regeneration that's sensitive about your age, or was the one I met just more accepting of being older than dirt?"

"Oh, you can talk, mister Face of Boe!" snapped the Doctor, affronted being called older than dirt.

Tsking Jack wagged his finger at the Doctor. "Ah hah ha, respect your elders, young man."

"Talking about the Face of Boe," began the Doctor. "I need you to arrange mine and Rose's first date in about," he looked at his wrist watch, "Five billion two hundred seventy-three thousand eight hundred and fifty-five years on Platform Five."

"The end of the World?" asked Jack skeptically, arching an eyebrow. " _That's_  where you took Rose on her first trip?"

"We had chips afterwards!" defended the Doctor.

"I bet she had to pay," Jack snorted.

"No money," shrugged the Doctor with an exaggerated northern accent.

Jack shook his head, seeing as the northern accent didn't suit this Doctor. "Don't do that, you sound like some kid trying to blend in a new school using the local accent he hasn't learned yet."

"So you're nine hundred and nine?" interrupted River, urgency in her voice. "So where does that leave us, huh? Jim the Fish? Have we done Jim the Fish yet?"

"Who's Jim the Fish?" asked the Doctor curiously.

"No idea, man," Jack said, slapping him on the back goodnaturedly.

Amy shook her head. "I don't understand," she snapped.

"Yeah you do," answered Rory, like he actually did understand what was going on and Jack gave him an appreciative once-over. Intelligence had been a major turn on for him since his travels with Doc and Rosie.

"I don't!" protested the Doctor, looking at them all suspiciously. "What are we all doing here?"

River, Rory and Amy glanced at each other, before River finally explained haltingly. "We've been recruited. Something to do with space 1969, and a man called Canton Everett Delaware the third."

"Recruited by who?" asked the Doctor, chewing on his straw with agitation.

"Someone who trusts you more than anyone else in the universe," River revealed.

"And who's that?" the Doctor wanted to know.

"Tsk," huffed Jack. "It's a damn long list, and you know it."

"But not everyone had the resources to send invitations all over time and space," answered the Doctor. "And I was on Callisto in the late 53rd century."

"Aww," cooed Jack. "Did you write about your heart break on the wall of the Museum of Love?"

The Doctor blushed and looked away. "That's none of your business, Jack Harkness!"


End file.
